Final Moment
by Liza Taylor
Summary: The last moment together, the last time we'll see each other. The last time hands will be touched and words spoken.


**Okay. This little one shot has been mulling around in my head for a while now and I'm finally going to put it up. This is probably the first time that I'm writing a romantic angst story so yeah….enjoy!**

The sun shone brightly overhead and lit the mountain. The cold air wrapped around the tall structure but it did not bother the being on top. His crimson hair floated around him as he surveyed the land below. Waves of orange power radiated off his being as he checked to make sure Castanet was at peach. This was his domain. His kingdom. He had seen this island grow and develop. He had seen it be saved many times. He closed his eyes and let the mountain air blow softly around him. Yes. It was a good time.

A sound from behind him broke his concentration on the world below. He turned slightly to see who dared to intrude upon his sacred ground. He relaxed immediately. "What is it?" he asked the young boy .

The young boy looked up at the Harvest God with bright brown eyes. He shared the Harvest God's bright hair and if anyone was looking at both of them it was obvious they were related in some way or another. "Grandma!" cried the little boy. "Grandma is…"

Ignis's calm demeanor was gone. No. It couldn't be. Not yet. Not yet. He thought there would be more time. With a sweep of his robes he was gone from the mountaintop. He wasn't worried for his great grandchild. This was the first time the boy had come up for a visit. He would be able to get back just fine.

Ignis appeared in the center of her room. The door was closed but Ignis could sense that his grandson was outside. Ignis knew his grandson was doing this for him. The room held simple furniture but every piece within it held many memories for him.

"Ignis?"

Ignis whirled around. Lying on a bed, along drowned by blankets and pillows was a frail old woman on her last breaths. He did not see her that way though. Instead he saw a bright young woman. The woman that had saved Castanet and taken his heart.

He was by her bed in moments and he held one of her small frail hands in his large one.

"You must think of me as an old woman," she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.

"No," replied Ignis. He stroked her thinning brown hair. "I still think of you as the crazy girl who called me down to save Castanet and then was crazy enough to visit me every day and even during festivals to talk to me." He smiled at the memory of her coming on the Starry Night Festival to watch the sky with him. The first time that he had realized that there was more than friendship that had brought her up to his mountain. He was so blind before. He thought she had come up there just to bother him or she wanted something from him.

She laughed but even her laugh was a shadow of her former young self. "Ignis," she spoke. Her brown eyes, the ones with the bright spark that he loved, stared up at him. She lifted her other hand and gently touched his face. "Please don't…please don't retreat up to your mountain when I'm gone. Please. You must promise me that." She swallowed slowly like even talking was tiring. "Please. Please Ignis. Get to know the villagers. Do not live up on your mountain alone. Your great grandchildren need you. I can't stand you sitting up there on that mountain alone."

Ignis looked down at the woman who he had shared many memories with. Their marriage on the mountaintop with the Harvest Sprites as witnesses. The birth of their two children. Watching their children grow up and move off the island. Watching their children return with children of their own. The cycle continuing on and on. Only she wouldn't be here. She wouldn't be here to continue to watch over them with him.

"Hikari," he whispered. "Please Hikari. Don't go."

Hikari smiled slightly, her bright eyes beginning to lose their spark. "Ignis. I'm human. This is normal in human life. I…"She shut her eyes tightly and opened them .again. Her eyes were moist with unshed tears. "Ignis. If I had known this would happen…that you would be like this…I would have never confessed to you. I…I'm a selfish girl. In the back of my mind I knew this was going to happen and yet…and yet…"

"No," Ignis pressed her frail hand to his cheek. "Don't say that. You…you taught me everything I needed to know. You taught me about emotions…about everything. You taught me the beauty of life, the beauty in everyday things. Please Hikari. Hikari. Don't. Just hang on a while longer. I'll find something. I'll find something to change this. I know. I'll ask that wizard. He can help."

Ignis got up to leave but Hikari reached out and grabbed his robe. Even with her weak arms she was able to hold him back. "Don't go," she whispered. "He can't do anything. This is the natural balance in life." Tears were freely falling from her old eyes. "Please. Just stay here with me. Don't go. Please. For me, don't go Ignis. Don't."

Ignis complied. He kneeled before the bed so she wouldn't have to strain to look up at him. He held her hand tightly in his. "I'm here Hikari. I'm here."

"Thank you Ignis," she whispered. "Thank you for giving me something special. Thank you for giving me a wonderful life. I love you."

"Hikari. Don't say that," he looked at her face but he couldn't see anything except the aged Hikari. What had happened to her? The vibrant young one. The one that could do anything. The one who would stay in the mines for hours to get a number of a certain ore. The one who would sit by the water until she got the fish she wanted. The one who trekked up his mountain everyday to talk to him, to sit by him, to watch over him. That was the person Ignis wanted. He wanted the his Hikari back.

Over the years he had watched her grow older and older. He watched as she grew weaker with time. In a blink of an eye for him she could no longer go up the mountain to visit him. Even then, even then Ignis believed that they would be together. That they would be together forever. He didn't want this. He didn't want this to happen. She had to live. She had to live to be with him.

"Hikari?" he whispered as he pressed her hand to his cheek again. It was not the same hand that had first touched him years ago. It was a rougher one, a hand of age. He opened his eyes and looked at Hikari's now serene face. "Hikari?" He got up and released her hand which dropped uselessly onto the bed. "Hikari! HIKARI!"

No matter how much he yelled, no matter how much he begged for her to wake up, she didn't. She didn't wake. She would never wake again. She would never open her eyes and tell him how much she loved him. She would never climb up the mountain to visit him. She would never show him her face again.

"Hikari…" he whispered. He covered his face with his hands and then pulled them back. His hands were wet. For the first time the Harvest God was crying. The emotions overwhelmed him. He could no longer hold them back. They rushed in a tidal way and he could no longer hold it together. He crumbled to the floor and cried for the loss of the one that meant so dear to him.


End file.
